Wagon tipplers

ABSTRACT

A tippler for the discharge of rail wagons has a rail table mounted on a rotary support structure. The structure comprises spaced coaxial end frames of open arcuate form the central axis of the frames being the axis of rotation of the structure. The wagon track on the rail table has its centre line in a vertical plane at or close to said axis of rotation. A charger located alongside the tippler has a laterally extending arm and the arcuate forms of the end frames define aligned openings through which the arm passes to entrain wagons onto and from the tippler.

United States Patent 1 Sheppard [111 3,811,580 May 21, 1974 WAGONTIPPLERS [75] Inventor: Gilbert Leslie Sheppard, Keynsham,

England [73] Assignee: Strachan & Henshaw Limited,

Bristol, England [22] Filed: Apr. 16, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 351,411

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 20. i972 Great Britainl8476/72 [52] US. Cl. 214/55 [51] Int. Cl. B65g 67/54 [58] Field ofSearch 214/55, 56

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,353,692 11/1967 Ludwig .Q214/55 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 738,038 10/1955 ,Great Britain214/55 Primary Examiner-Robert G. Sheridan Attorney, Agent, orFirm.lones and Lockwood 5 7] ABSTRACT A tippler for the discharge ofrail wagons has a rail table mounted on a rotary support structure. Thestructure comprises spaced coaxial end frames of open arcuate form thecentral axis of the frames being the axis of rotation of the structure.The wagon track on the rail table has its centre line in a verticalplane at or close to said axis of rotation. A charger located alongsidethe tippler has a laterally extending arm and the arcuate forms of theend frames define aligned op enings through which the arm passes toentrain wagons onto and from-the tippler. v

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures WAGON TIPPLERS This invention relates toequipment used for the handling and discharge of railway wagons.

High rates of throughput are often demanded at the bulk materialstockyards of ports and heavy industries and it is known to providesystems for a corresponding high rate of handling and discharge ofrailway wagons whereby the train and wagon movement equipment is fullyintegrated to operate automatically with tipping or discharge means.

The known type of wagon handling and discharge means that is oftenpreferred to achieve high throughput rates in such systems is thatprovided by rotary tipplers which tip a wagon about a fixed longitudinalaxis arranged to lie between or very close to the respective centres ofgravity of the wagon when in its loaded and unloaded state. This form oftippler is fed with wagons by means of a motive device located betweenthe rails on which the wagon runs and there are limitations on the size,and therefore the power of such a device. With the trend to largerplant, and therefore the need to handle larger unit loads, this can bean extreme disadvantage.

Another known form of tippling device uses a sidearm charger, which islocated on a track by the side of the wagon track. The tippling deviceitself in this instance holds the wagons on a side region of a supportto give an orbital tippling action that requires a structural mass andpower input considerably in excess of that for an equivalent rotarytippler.

According to the present invention, we provide a rotary tipplercomprising a wagon support arrangment having spaced parallel rigidframes of open arcuate form disposed co-axially, and a wagon trackhaving a centre line disposed in a vertical plane at or close to thecommon central axis of said frames, the openings of said frames beingaligned so as to permit loading and unloading of wagons onto and fromthe tippler'track by a motive device located alongisde the tippler andhaving engagement means adapted to pass through said openings whileentraining a wagon, said support ar' rangement being rotatable about theaxis of the frames to discharge a wagon on the tippler track.

The invention will be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation of one form of tippler according to theinvention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are side and plan elevations respectively of the tipplerof FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is an end elevation, similar to FIG. 1 but showing the apparatusin the fully tipped condition, and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are end and side elevations, respectively, of a secondform of tippler according to the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the tipplercomprises a tipping frame structure that has a pair of-endframes 2 witharcuate outer peripheries 3 mounted on rollers 4 at fixed positions andarranged to be rotated in unison by a motor 6 which drives shaft 8having pinions l0 engaging toothed racks 12 on the end frames. Thetipping frame structure includes two lower girders 14, 16 and a topstopgirder 18 interconnecting the two end frames.

A rail table 20 comprising a track 20a extends through the end frames 2with which it is connected by respective cradles 22 each comprising a.l-beam 24 and a link arm 26, the cradles beingrigidly interconnected bya side beam 27. Each link arm is pivoted to its end frame at 28 and toits J-beam 24 at 30. The other end of the .l-beam has a roller 31supported, in the rest position of the tippler, on a shoulder 32 at theend of a guide track 34 on the end frame, the function of the guidetrack being further described below.

The table 20 has end pivots 36 engaging lugs 38 on the I-beams 24. Inaddition, transverse rollers 40, 42 rest on profiled blocks 44, 46 onsupports-48 that may include or form part of a weight-recording unit.

The railway clearance gauge is indicated at G in chain lines in FIG. 1and it will be clear from this that a wagon (illustrated in one form atW in FIGS. 1 and 4) mounted on the rail table will have its centre ofgravity close to the vertical plane containing the central axis of theend frame 2 and, depending upon the height and load of the wagon itscentre of gravity will be at the most only a small vertical distancefrom that central axis.

With the rail table track aligned, in the position shown in FIG. 1, witha fixed entry track (not shown), wagons are loaded one by one onto therail table by a side-arm charger 50, coupler arm 52 of the charger beingpivotable between operative and inoperative positions shown in FIGS. 1and 4 respectively and the arm in the operative position being able topass through the open sides of the end frames 2 so that the charger cantravel past either end frame with the arm 52 laterally extended. When awagon W is loaded onto the table, its weight is supported wholly on therollers .40, 42 since the pivot engagement 36, 38 is arranged to give asmall amount of free play.

With the coupler arm 52 retracted, the motor 6 then rotates the tippingframe inthe clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 1 to tip the wagon. Theinitial movement of the frame takes up the free play in the'pivotengagement 36, 38 so that some of the weight of the rail table and wagonis now supported by the cradles 22. The rotation ofthe tipping framecausesthe rollers 40, 42 to run on their stationary blocks 44, 46 theprofiles of which allow the wagon to tilt in a controlled manner untilthe side of the wagon is brought against side support pads 58 of thebeam 27 interconnecting the .lbeams, at which stage the rollers 40, 42move out of contact with their blocks 44, 46.

Up to this stage, the cradles 22 are fixed in position inrelation totheir end frames but as the tippling action pgceedg theend frames havebeen rotated some the weight of the wagon on the side support pads 58,causes the rollers 31 of the .l-beams to leave the shoulders 32 and theynow begin to roll along the spiral guide tracks 34. This carries thewagon towards the top-stop girder 18 until the wagon top is broughtagainst stop pads 62 of pivoted top supports 64 mounted on the top-stopgirder. The wagon is then held, by gravity, between the rail table andthe top supports with the side beam still providing location. This isthe position shown in FIG. 4.

In the illustrated construction, the angular extent of the open side ofeach end frame is dictated by the need to provide an end pivot location28 for the link arm 26 and a sufficient length for the arcuateperipheral track 3 for the tipping motion (there being a terminatingoverrun stop 66 in this instance). It will be appreciated that withrotary tipplers of the form with which the present invention isconcerned, other forms of wagon location and clamping may be used thatdo not require a part equivalent to the link arm and that the angle oftipping motion required may be different, so allowing furthermodification of the form of the end frames.

As an example of a tippler according to the invention having a modifiedform of wagon location and clamping, reference will now be made to FIGS.5 and 6 of the drawings, where the tippler shown is similar in manyrespects to that already described and corresponding parts have beengiven the same reference numbers.

The end frames 2 of the tipping frame structure, supported and driven asin the first example, are interconnected by a lower girder 14, anintermediate girder 76, which here carries the side support pads 58 sothat these pads cannot move relative to the end frame, and an uppergirder 78. Pivoted top supports 64 are carried by a further girder orbeam 80 mounted at its opposite ends to rack arms 82 supported on pivots83 on the end frames.

- Adjacent each end frame levers 84 also secured to the pivots are fixednon-rotationally relative to the arms 82 and carry follower rollers 86that bear on respective fixed control surfaces or ramps 88 (shown onlyin FIG. 5). When the tippler frame is upright, as illustrated, it is theengagement of the rollers 86 with the surfaces 88 that prevents the beam80 dropping under its own weight from the position shown but theprofiles of the control surfaces are arranged to allow the beam todescend when the frame structure rotates, as will be described in moredetail below.

The rail table extends through the end frames and is supported at itsopposite ends upon weigh-bridge apparatus 90 when the tippler is in thestate of rest shown. Lugs 92 on the end frames carry stub-shafts 94 thatare located with some free play in slots 96 in dependent portions 96a ofthe table, the shape and disposition of the slots being such that thesub-shafts do not bear on the slot edges when the frame structure isupright and thus cannot then interfere with the functioning of theweigh-bridge apparatus. The rail table can alternatively have supportrollers resting on profiled blocks mounted on static supports,analogously to the first-described example.

In operation, a wagon W is brought onto the table 20 by the side-armcharger 50, as in the first example, and as the tipping frame structureis rotated clockwise through the drive 10, 12. The table begins torotate when the lugs 92 on the end frames have moved far enough to takeup the clearance between the stubshafts 94 and the slots 96. As before,the tilting of the table brings the wagon against the side support pads58.

From the start of the rotation of the frame structure, the followerrollers 86 of the levers 84 move relative to the fixed surfaces 88 andthe beam 80 is thus allowed to swing downwards on the pivots 83, underthe action of gravity, until the top supports 64 engage the top of thewagon. The stage at which this occures will of course depend on theheight of the wagon and the profile of the surfaces 88. As rotation ofthe frame structure proceeds further, since further movement of the beam80 about the pivots 83 is prevented, the follower rollers 86 come out ofcontact with the surfaces 88.

On each end frame there are two spaced pivot supports 98 on which twolocking pawls 100 can'rotate freely. weighted balance arms 102 beingfixed to the respective pawls so that they depend downwards to hold thepawls in the orientation shown during the initial rotation of the framestructure. This effect pro duces relative pivoting between the pawls andthe end frames, and as the rotation of the frame structure proceeds,said pivoting brings the pawls of each end frame closer to a toothedrack 104 on the lower end of the associated rack arm 82. It is arrangedthat shortly before the frame structure has been tipped through 90 (e.g.at about rotation) one or both of the pawls come into engagement withthe teeth of the rack and the disposition of the pivot supports 98 ofthe pawls relative to the pawls themselves and the rack teeth profilesis such that the pawls act in the manner of a ratchet locking the rackagainst return motion.

As the wagon is inverted, therefore, the shifting of weight onto the topsupports 64 does not cause the beam 80 to move on the pivots 83 and thewagon remains firmly held. The two pawls at each end face are arrangedto be out of phase with respect to each other by half a tooth pitch ofthe rack teeth, so that one or other of the pawls will be able to entera racked tooth slot fully, regardless of any minor variations in thewagon height. This ensures that locking will occur without having toresort to an unduly small tooth pitch on the rack which would give anundesirably small bearing surface for a pawl.

After the wagons contents have been tipped, when the frame structure isbeing rotated back to the upright position, the pawls are releasedshortly after the wagon has passed through its tipped position. Thosepawls locked into the rack teeth no longer depend freely, and aretherefore so disposed that the outer end of the balance arms 102 comeagainst fixed release surfaces 106 at this stage. The surfaces 106 sorestrain the movement of the pawls with respect to the end frames astopivot the pawls out of engagement with the rack teeth. The balancearms now again adopt a freely dependent position which, because of theorientation of the frame structure at this stage means that the pawlsare clear of the rack teeth until in a further cycle the frame structureis again rotated past the position at which .they were released. Therelease of the racks 104 of course allows the rack arms to pivot whenthe rollers 86 come against the control surfaces, allowing the topsupports 64 to be raised out of engagement from the wagon top as theframe structure approaches the upright position.

It will be appreciated that the location of the centre of gravity of aloaded wagon close to the centre of rotation of a tippler, as in theillustrated examples, helps to reduce the power requirements for atippling operation and the stresses imposed at any given rate of angularmovement will be lessened. At the same time the open form of the endframes permits the use of a side-arm charger or wagon positioner so thatthere is no practical limitation on the power that can be deployed tomarshal the wagons for tippling.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A rotary tippler comprising, in combination, a wagon supportarrangement, spaced parallel rigid frames of open arcuate form in saidsupport arrangement, interconnection means extending between said framesto join them rigidly and with their arcuate forms disposed about acommon central axis, a wagon track having a centre line disposed in avertical plane at or close to the common axis of said frames, a motivedevice disposed alongside the wagon support arrangement for loading andunloading of wagons onto and from the wagon track, engagement means onsaid motive device for entraining said wagons, openings in said framesdefined in each frame between the ends of the frame arcuate form andsaid openings being in alignment providing passage for movement of saidengagement means past the frames for the loading and unloading ofwagons, means mounting said support arrangement rotatably about thecommon axis of the frames, and drive means rotating said arrangementabout said axis to discharge a wagon loaded onto said track.

2. A rotary tippler according to claim 1 further com-- prising end stopmeans on at least one of said arcuate frames has adjacent the openingthereof, said end stop means limiting overrun of the rotary movement fordischarging a wagon.

3. A rotary tippler according to claim 1 wherein the wagon supportarrangement comprises cradle means on which said wagon track is mounted,and pivot connections between the arcuate frames and the cradle meansadjacent the lower termination of the arcuate frame openings, saidcradle means being pivoted about said connections with the rotation ofthe support arrangement to a discharge position to displace the wagontrack towards the axis of rotation, holding means of the supportarrangment for engagement with a wagon top when the cradle means ispivoted and thereby limiting said displacement of the wagon track, saidholding means providing support for the wagon when the wagon is in anoverturned discharged position.

4. A rotary tippler according to claim 1 wherein the support arrangementcomprises wagon top holding means, mounting means locating said holdingmeans displaceably upon the arcuate frames, control means for saiddisplacement of the holding means bringing the holding means against thewagon top during the initial part of said rotation of the arrangement,means locking the holding means in an operative position against thewagon top to maintain engagement with the wagon top during continuedrotation of the tippler to an overturned discharge position of thewagon.

5. A rotary tippler according to claim 4 wherein said locking meanscomprise at least one gravity-operated member disposed on a mountingdisplaced in said rotation of the support arrangement to bring saidmember to a position blocking return movement of the holding means fromsaid operative position, means being provided in the path of said atleast one locking member on the return rotation of the tippler from thedischarge position while in its blocking position to displace ittherefrom whereby to free the holding means from the wagon top.

6. A rotary tippler according to claim 4 wherein the or each saidlocking member comprises a pawl, a toothed rack fixed to said holdingmeans being engageable by said pawl to lock the holding means in theoperative position.

1. A rotary tippler comprising, in combination, a wagon supportarrangement, spaced parallel rigid frames of open arcuate form in saidsupport arrangement, interconnection means extending between said framesto join them rigidly and with their arcuate forms disposed about acommon central axis, a wagon track having a centre line disposed in avertical plane at or close to the common axis of said frames, a motivedevice disposed alongside the wagon support arrangement for loading andunloading of wagons onto and from the wagon track, engagement means onsaid motive device for entraining said wagons, openings in said framesdefined in each frame between the ends of the frame arcuate form andsaid openings being in alignment providing passage for movement of saidengagement means past the frames for the loading and unloading ofwagons, means mounting said support arrangement rotatably about thecommon axis of the frames, and drive means rotating said arrangementabout said axis to discharge a wagon loaded onto said track.
 2. A rotarytippler according to claim 1 further comprising end stop means on atleast one of said arcuate frames has adjacent the opening thereof, saidend stop means limiting overrun of the rotary movement for discharging awagon.
 3. A rotary tippler according to claim 1 wherein the wagonsupport arrangement comprises cradle means on which said wagon track ismounted, and pivot connections between the arcuate frames and the cradlemeans adjacent the lower termination of the arcuate frame openings, saidcradle means being pivoted about said connections with the rotation ofthe support arrangement to a discharge position to disPlace the wagontrack towards the axis of rotation, holding means of the supportarrangment for engagement with a wagon top when the cradle means ispivoted and thereby limiting said displacement of the wagon track, saidholding means providing support for the wagon when the wagon is in anoverturned discharged position.
 4. A rotary tippler according to claim 1wherein the support arrangement comprises wagon top holding means,mounting means locating said holding means displaceably upon the arcuateframes, control means for said displacement of the holding meansbringing the holding means against the wagon top during the initial partof said rotation of the arrangement, means locking the holding means inan operative position against the wagon top to maintain engagement withthe wagon top during continued rotation of the tippler to an overturneddischarge position of the wagon.
 5. A rotary tippler according to claim4 wherein said locking means comprise at least one gravity-operatedmember disposed on a mounting displaced in said rotation of the supportarrangement to bring said member to a position blocking return movementof the holding means from said operative position, means being providedin the path of said at least one locking member on the return rotationof the tippler from the discharge position while in its blockingposition to displace it therefrom whereby to free the holding means fromthe wagon top.
 6. A rotary tippler according to claim 4 wherein the oreach said locking member comprises a pawl, a toothed rack fixed to saidholding means being engageable by said pawl to lock the holding means inthe operative position.